Abstract How do countries mobilize large additions to tax revenue – defined as an average increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio of 0.5 percent per year over three years or more? To answer this question, we build a novel dataset covering 55 episodes of large tax revenue increases in low-income countries and emerging markets. We find that: (i) reforms of indirect taxes and exemptions are the most common tax policy measures; (ii) multi-pronged tax administration reforms often go hand in hand with tax policy measures; and (iii) sustainability of the episodes hinges on tax administration reforms in the key compliance areas (risk-based audits, registration, filing, payment, and reporting).


Mr. Pressey writes that he is glad to hear from Mr. Alanson and promises to send the train car coupler models. He talks about working in insurance and will be taking some time off.


The aluminum alloys of the 7xxx series consist of Al with Zn mainly, Mg and Cu. 7xxx aluminum alloys has high mechanical properties making it distinct from other aluminum alloys. In this paper, we examine the effect of adding Nickel and heat treatments on the microstructure and hardness of the 7075 aluminum alloy. Were we added different percentages of nickel [0.1, 0.5, 1] wt% to 7075 Aluminum alloy, and applied various heat treatments (artificial aging T6 and Retrogression and re-aging RRA) on the 7075 alloys that Containing nickel. By applying RRA treatment, we obtained better results than the results obtained by applying T6 treatment, and we obtained the high values of hardness and a smoother microstructure for the studied alloys by the addition of (0.5 wt%) nickel to alloy 7075.


1. Three series of etiolated seedlings of Pisum sativum were grown, decapitated in the third internode, and treated with auxin paste or with aqueous solutions of auxin. The treated seedlings were collected at eight hour intervals and observed for 164 hours. Controls were grown under exactly similar conditions. 2. The general results of auxin treatment, swelling and root formation, vary in extent in relation to seedling age and auxin concentration. 3. The form of the swelling varies in reference to auxin concentration. 4. Four phases of growth are recognized during the formation of a swelling, each characterized by a dominant activity: (a) expansion of parenchyma cells and infiltration of auxin paste into intercellular spaces (0-48 hours); (b) formation of a meristem cylinder from division of inner cortex, starch sheath, pericycle, and phloem parenchyma tissue (16-72 hours); (c) initiation and elongation of root primordia (56-164 hours); (d) lignification of tissues (116-164 hours). 5. The root primordia vary in origin in younger and older stems. In younger seedlings the identity of the endodermis is lost in the meristem cylinder complex. The root primordia are traceable to a group of ray cells within this complex. In older seedlings the endodermal cells do not divide and the primordia are therefore pericyclic and intra-pericyclic in origin. The endodermis is traceable as a primordial sheath. Casparian strips may or may not be lignified. 6. The roots arise approximately in whorls at successive levels on the stem. There is no visible anatomical differentiation to account for this distribution.


The Malawi Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) sought the assistance of JHPIEGO to implement a performance and quality improvement (PQI) initiative in infection prevention (IP) as one intervention in response to concerns of healthcare workers and potential healthcare workers regarding the existing risks of exposure to infection with major communicable diseases especially HIV/AIDS at the countrys hospitals and other health facilities. The initiative aimed to improve infection prevention practices in seven participating (pilot) facilities in order to decrease the risk of infection transmission to clients providers and the community. A first activity conducted under the initiative was the development of national performance standards for infection prevention and development of a facility assessment tool based on these performance standards. A second activity was the collection of baseline data concerning perceptions of the risk of contracting infections and of the quality of health services among hospital staff clients and their caregivers (guardians) in several pilot facilities. Subsequently additional baseline data were collected at seven facilities using the IP performance standards assessment tool. The performance standards were monitored over the course of 1 year. During this time selected hospital staff from strategic areas of the participating hospitals were trained in appropriate IP practices and IP information education and communication (IEC) activities were launched at four of the seven facilities to sensitize patients guardians to the need for compliance with IP standards. An evaluation study to examine the implementation process and outcomes of these interventions over time was conducted 1 year post-intervention. A comparison of findings from the baseline study conducted in fall of 2002 and the postintervention evaluation study conducted approximately 1 year later reveals that the perception of risk of acquiring an infection because of working in or providing care for another person in the facility was reduced among both hospital staff and guardians. The perception of the quality of infection prevention practices at the seven facilities had also improved among both of these respondent groups. (excerpt)


This paper addresses marketing strategies that are unique to small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in the international marketplace. SMEs must address these topics if they want to successfully conduct business on a global scale. While international marketing is successfully practiced by many large electronics companies, this paper is intended to assist SMEs in conducting business with their limited resources in the international marketplace.


Recent explorations in French Guiana and the lower Amazon by Mr. Samuel M. Klages in the interests of the Carnegie Museum have brought to light a number of apparently new birds, descriptions of which are presented herewith, while a few additional forms are described from other regions as the indirect result of comparisons with this new material. Three new subspecies of birds from the Santa Marta region are also


This paper develops an approximate cost function for a three-echelon supply chain that has two suppliers, a central warehouse and an arbitrary number of retailers. It takes an integrated approach to multi-echelon inventory control and order-splitting problems. It assumes that all facilities apply continuous review policy for replenishment, demand at the retailers follows a Poisson process, and lead times are stochastic with no predetermined probability distribution. Unsatisfied demand is considered as lost sales at the retailers and backlogged at the warehouse and suppliers. Due to information sharing between the existing echelons, order quantity at each higher level is assumed to be an integer multiple of the lower level. Order placed by the warehouse gets divided between the two suppliers and re-order point is not restricted at the warehouse or suppliers. The main contribution of this paper is its integrated approach and the practical assumption that it uses for the order arrival sequence and the unsatisfied demands. It adds two suppliers as the third echelon to the traditional twoechelon supply chain and considers dynamic sequence of orders arrival to the warehouse at each cycle. The fact that inventory control and sourcing decisions are interdependent and act as the main challenge of supply chain management, considering them in an integrated model can significantly influence operating costs and supply chain's efficiency. Such approach can even have greater impact when blended with practical assumptions that consider lead-time as unpredictable and unsatisfied demand as lost sales. Total cost of the three-echelon inventory system is approximated based on the average unit cost and its accuracy is assessed through simulation. Numerical results with relatively low errors confirms the accuracy of the model. It also shows how to further enhance its accuracy by either increasing the holding cost at all echelons or the penalty cost at the retailers.


This article discusses the potential to use Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) to form conceptual links across enlargement and similarity by developing learners' understanding of scale factor and ratio. From the theoretical perspective of situated abstraction, a combination of both situated cognition and mathematical abstraction, it analyses existing literature on the teaching, learning and assessment of enlargement and similarity as well as literature on DGS and how it acts as a microworld, where an array of situations in a mathematically consistent environment can be created. Particular focus is given to how the dragging and measurement facilities in DGS support abstractions through both amplification and reorganisation of traditional pencil and paper methods. The empirical element of this article describes a small scale classroom based project on the use of DGS as a microworld for transformation geometry. Through analysing learners' dialogue and written responses to tasks, it proposes that a combination of minimally pre-constructed tasks, peer-discussion and utilising the dragging and measurement facilities, can enhance the observation of patterns in transformation geometry and concludes that these conditions can support learners to move from the particular to the general, allowing abstractions to be conceived and strengthening learners' understanding of enlargement and similarity.


For surgical management of Ebsteln's anomaly. a new technique of tricuspid valve replacement on the true annulus. avoiding Il1iury to the conduction system. has been developed. At operation. the valve fixation sutures are placed around the true annulus except for a part of Koch's triangle. A 3 x 3 cm xenograft patch Is sutured to cover the atrioventricular node and bundle of His. The remainder of the valve fixation sutures In Koch's triangle are placed only on the patch to prevent conduction Il1iury, and the valve fixation annulus Is completed. This new technique has been applied to three patients and has preserved atrioventricular conductivity well In all cases. It Is concluded that this procedure of tricuspid replacement on the true annulus can be safely applied and Is remarkably effective in preventing atrioventricular conduction


Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder. While bringing psychologic pain to patients, it also damages their social function, which is a great threat to people's life and health. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies have been used clinically to treat PTSD; however, the selection strategies of different CAM interventions in clinical practice is still uncertain, and the purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of different CAM therapies using systematic review and network meta-analysis. Methods: According to the strategy, the authors will retrieve a total of 7 electronic databases by June 2020. After a series of screening, the 2 researchers will use Aggregate Data Drug Information System and Stata software to analyze the data extracted from randomized controlled trials of CAM therapies for the PTSD. Finally, the evidence grade of the results will be evaluated. Results: This study will provide a reliable evidence for the selection of CAM therapies for PTSD. Conclusion: The results of this study will provide references for evaluating the influence of different CAM therapies for PTSD, and provide decision-making references for clinical research. Abbreviations: ADDIS = Aggregate Data Drug Information System, CAM = complementary and alternative medicine, DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, GRADE = Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation, ICD = International Classification of Diseases, NMA = network meta-analysis, PSRF = potential scale-reduced factor, PTSD = post-traumatic stress disorder, RCTs = randomized controlled trials.


Companies experience increasing legal and societal pressure to communicate about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagements from a number of different publics. One very important group is that of young consumers who are predicted to be the most important and influential consumer group in the near future. From a value-theoretical base, this article empirically explores the role and applicability of 'fit' in strategic CSR communication targeted at young consumers. Point of departure is taken in the well-known strategic fit (a logical link between a company's CSR commitment and its core values) and is further developed by introducing two additional fits, the CSR-Consumer fit and the CSR-Consumer-Company fit (Triple Fit). Through a sequential design, the three fits are empirically tested and their potential for meeting young consumers' expectations for corporate CSR messaging is discussed.


Malaria remains a public health concern in Namibia and it is endemic in many regions, including Kavango east region. University students in Kavango east region are at risk of malaria due to bushy environment and the presence of Kavango river, which makes it easy for mosquitoes to multiply. This study aimed to assess and describe knowledge, attitudes and practices of malaria prevention among university students. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted, using a pretested questionnaire to collect data from 239 university students in Kavango east region. A proportionate stratified random sampling was used to sample students from the three faculties on campus. Data were analysed with a Statistical Programme of Social Sciences.

The overall response rate was 75% (239) from a total of 318 respondents. Mean age was 21.4 years, respondents comprised of 155 (64.9%) females and 84 (35.1%) males. Almost all respondents (94.5%) know that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and 80% of respondents indicated that malaria is preventable. Usage of mosquito net was the most commonly known preventive measure, indicated by 224 (94%) of respondents. The vast majority of respondents 227 (95%) agreed that the appropriate method to prevent self from getting malaria is to prevent mosquito bites. Surprisingly 80 (33%) of the respondents believe that only children and pregnant women get malaria and therefore it's only them who need preventive measures. Only 43 (18%) of the respondents always sleep under mosquito nets to prevent themselves from getting malaria. It was concluded that university students in Kavango east region have good knowledge on malaria prevention measures. Although there were some misconceptions noted, especially on the identification of population at risk of malaria, the attitudes on malaria prevention are generally satisfactory. However, the knowledge and attitudes do not reflect in the students' practices.


Rachel Sobel writes that learning medicine as a second language can be trying, and not only because fluency varies tremendously with the team to which she's assigned on a given rotation. She must constantly navigate two worlds, patient-speak and doctor-speak, and hardly do the two meet.


We study the functional If (u) = T Ω f(u(x)) dx, where u = (u1, . . . , um) and each uj is constant along some subspace Wj of R . We show that if intersections of the Wj 's satisfy a certain condition then If is weakly lower semicontinuous if and only if f is Λ-convex (see Definition 1.1 and Theorem 1.1). We also give a necessary and sufficient condition on {Wj}j=1,...,m to have the equivalence: If is weakly continuous if and only if f is Λ-affine.


In this paper are discussed the modifying nature of the black liquor of paper-making,that is,carrying out the sulphonation reaction of lignin in the black liquor,studied the influential condition of the reaction,and found the best reaction conditions. The results show that the factors that influece the reaction are the temperature and the time,and secondly the density of the material.The products of the reaction can effectively emulsify crude and great1y reduce viscosity of crude.


The pronounced tendency of modern power-plant designers to use high super heat and high pressure, as well as the recent extensive use of highly superheated steam in process work, lead the author to make a renew of the available data and formulas on radiation and friction losses in pipe lines. A ll tests to determine the radiation losses of pipe lines carrying high temperature steam made in this country have been practically exclusively with electrically heated pipes. This paper gives results and analysis of tests made with superheated steam flowing through a pipe line. The heat-transmission coefficients of bare and covered pipes at different steam velocities, various superheats, and pressures are given. Suggestions are made re garding steam velocities to be selected in order to transmit steam more economically. The formulas available at present for figuring the friction losses of steam in pipe lines are limited to the range for which they were established, or for comparatively low pressures. Corrections of these formulas are shown in this paper, based on observations of a pipe line carrying high-pressure steam, which corrections may be used by designers of high-pressure power plants in dimensioning their pipe mains. The paper further treats of pipe lines carrying superheated steam for other purposes than power. Recommendations as to the velocities or pipe sizes to be chosen are given, as well as a few examples from practice to show how those velocities were advantageously applied.


With the rapid advance in digital network, digital libraries, and particularly WWW (World Wide Web) services, we can retrieve many kinds of information anytime. Thus, security has become one of the most significant problems for distributing new information. It is necessary to protect this information while communicated over insecure channels. Thus a need for developing technology that will help to provide security as well as authenticity. Steganography is the idea of hiding private or sensitive data or information within something that appears to be nothing out of the normal. Steganography and cryptography are similar in the way that they both are used to protect important information. Nowadays the term "Information Hiding" relates to both watermarking and steganography. So we proposed combined strategy of cryptography, steganography and digital watermarking to hide secure image with watermark logo inside cover image. For this purpose we use DCT, DWT, SVD and RSA approach. Using DCT, encrypted watermark logo (encryption perform using RSA) is hide inside Secure image, results in Stego image. This Stego image is hiding inside cover image using DWT and SVD. Our approach can be used to transmit secure information like copyright information of company, movie with their respective image, finger-print or thumb impression of particular person. This method can be used for security purpose. Thus would be beneficial to nation for over all security.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing raw pasta which uses durum wheat flour, maintains a texture of conventional pasta in spite of having a calory lower than a conventional pasta and having an appropriate color tone as pasta. SOLUTION: The method for producing raw pasta includes the step (a) of mixing raw material flour with water to prepare a mixture and the step (b) of preparing noodle strips from the mixture and cooking the noodle strips so as to have a yield based on the raw material flour of not less than 270% to be eaten. The raw material flour has mixed wheat flour as a main component comprising durum wheat flour and wheat flour except the durum wheat flour and the protein content of the wheat flour except the durum wheat flour is not less than 13.5 mass% and an ash content is 0.50-0.69 mass%. The mixed wheat flour is mixed to have a mass ratio of the durum wheat flour to the wheat flour except the durum wheat flour of 30:70-90:10. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT


Two decades after their landmark work Priceless Markets, the transatlantic trio of economic historians Philip T. Hoffman, Gilles Postel-Vinay, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal has returned to the history of credit in France. The earlier work attempted to track the evolution of long-term borrowing in Paris between 1660 and 1870 and insisted on the important role of notaries as financial intermediaries. In a world still marked by provisions against usury, where visible interest rates could not be embedded into loan contracts, "price" could not help match lenders and borrowers, whether by luring those with resources to spare, or reigning in those tempted to borrow more than they could repay. Notaries could do some of this work, as they were privy to what individual borrowers and lenders could not know. Their knowledge grew as they inscribed the transactions of everyday life into official documents: marriage contracts, estate inventories, and sales, for example, along with various types of loans. All were carefully recorded, leaving treasure troves to be plumbed. Looking at over 400,000 contracts drawn up by just over a tenth of Paris's notaries, the authors detected significant growth in lending during the years separating the Law era (1717–1720) and the French Revolution. In the language of economists, it was a story of "asymmetric information" overcome in "priceless markets" with the help of notaries. As the latter became more numerous, financial development occurred, though it could be marred by inflationary shocks associated with political crises.


The efficient management of wastewater and sewage sludge treatment are becoming crucial with industrialization and increasing anthropological effects. Dehydration of sewage sludge cakes (SSCs) is typically carried out using mechanical and electrochemical processes. Using the mechanical dehydration process, only a limited amount of water can be removed, and the resultant SSCs have a water content of approximately 70–80 wt.%, which is significantly high for land dumping or recycling as solid fuel. Dumping high-moisture-content SSCs in land can lead to leakage of hazardous wastewater into the ground and cause economic loss. Therefore, dehydration of SSCs is crucial. Contemporary treatment methods focus on the development of anode materials for the electrochemical processes. IrO2 is an insoluble anode material that is eco-friendly, less expensive, and exhibits high chemical stability, and it has been widely used and investigated in wastewater treatment and electrodehydration (ED) industries. Herein, we evaluated the performance of the ED system developed using IrO2 anode material. The operating conditions of the anode such as reaction time, sludge thickness, and voltage on SSC were optimized. The performance of the ED system was evaluated based on the moisture content of SSCs after dehydration. The moisture content decreased proportionally with the reaction time, sludge thickness, and voltage. The moisture content of 40 wt.% was determined as the optimum quantity for land dumping or to be used as recycled solid fuel.


1 Ahmed Emam, MRCS Khurram Khan, FRCS Elena Prousskaia, FRCS, EBOPRAS Department of Plastic Surgery Southmead Hospital Northbristol NHS Trust Bristol, United Kingdom Sir: B reconstruction with autologous free tissue transfer is a widely established technique considered to be the "gold standard."1,2 The leading cause of return to theater after deep inferior epigastric flap reconstruction is hematoma occurring in the chest wall, reported in 1.2–2%1,3 cases. Most breast reconstructive surgeons would therefore consider suction drains under the newly reconstructed breast a mandatory step to minimize this complication from occurring, as a hematoma could compress the flap pedicle compromising venous output and possibly even arterial input leading to partial or total flap necrosis. The drains are commonly placed away from the pedicle and site of anastomosis; however, the drain tubing can in theory migrate directly injuring or compressing the pedicle and/or causing damage through the suction forces. We describe a simple technique to safely secure the breast drain tubing to prevent migration and hence protect the anastomotic site and pedicle after free tissue transfer breast reconstruction. In this technique, two 10-gauge suction drains are used, one for the upper breast mastectomy flap and one for the lower breast mastectomy flap. The drains are inserted before vessel exposure and after achieving meticulous hemostasis of the breast mastectomy flaps. Each drain is secured to the inner aspect of the breast mastectomy flap by a loose loop of absorbable monofilament 3/0 suture under direct vision. The loop diameter is one fingerbreadth diameter: this is sufficient to secure the drain in the desired location yet at the same time facilitate easy removal. This same technique can be applied to any other free tissue transfer situation to protect the pedicle from inadvertent damage from the drain tubing (Figs. 1 and 2).


This paper addresses the problem of optimally placing a limited number of wavelength converting nodes in multicast optical WDM networks. The problem is motivated by the high cost incurred in the usage of converters. We propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation algorithm with the objective function of minimizing the total costs for a given set of multicast sessions in WDM networks. Numerical results show that the algorithm is tractable in networks with dozens of nodes.


An investigation of the products formed during the treatment of a number of amino acids and proteins with alkali has provided evidence for the similarity of some reactions between free and protein-bound amino acids. Based on this similarity, the behavior of free amino acids and other model compounds has been interpreted to account for the yellowing of proteins. Yellowing in both cases has been attributed to an initial β-elimination reaction involving the amino acids cystine, cysteine, serine or threonine to form dehydro-alanyl residues, which then either rearrange or react further to form colored compounds.


There are two main purposes in this paper. The first objective is to compare the performances, in terms of forecasting accuracy and profitability in stock market movements forecasting using different techniques including machine learning models. We compare these techniques using data from the SP the best performer depends on the market characteristics. Incorporating technical indicators in the forecasting model does not help improve the outcome in most markets except for markets that are known to be less weak-form efficient such as the Thai market. Overall, these models show some advantages in stock market movements forecasting by outperforming the returns of the market indices in term of profitability.


We present a direct two-way coupled Monte-Carlo simulation of turbulent drag reduction by rigid fibers in a fullydeveloped channel flow. The numerical method is briefly described. Then, some results including the firstand secondorder statistics of the velocity are presented and discussed. INTRODUCTION In this paper, we present the methodology and some selected results of the numerical simulation of drag reduction by rigid fibers in turbulent channel flow. The drag reducing property of polymer additives in turbulent flows, i.e. the Toms effect, has been known since 1948. Numerical investigation of this phenomenon has recently become feasible. Manhart performed a one-way coupled direct simulation of dilute Brownian fiber suspensions in turbulent channel flow (Manhart, 2003). Paschkewitz et al. (2004) studied the turbulent drag reduction by rigid fibers in channel flow using the moment approximation approach in a fully Eulerian framework. They, for example, found out that the drag reduction maximizes for non-Brownian fibers. Gillissen et al. (2007) performed twoway coupled moment approximation simulations as well as a direct computation based on the Fokker-Planck equation in turbulent channel flow based on a fully Eulerian framework. Their direct approach was limited to relatively strong Brownian motion (low Péclet numbers). For higher Péclet numbers, only results using moment closures have been available to date. In this work, we present a two-way coupled direct Monte-Carlo simulation strategy which is applicable to weak Brownian and even non-Brownian fibers for which the drag reduction is maximum. The turbulent flow field is computed using the direct numerical simulation (DNS) in an Eulerian framework. The fibers are treated in a Lagrangian framework. The Eulerian-Lagrangian two-way coupled simulation is presented in the following. GOVERNING EQUATIONS The isothermal incompressible flow of a non-Newtonian fluid is governed by the Navier-Stokes equations: ρ DU Dt =−∇p+∇ · ( τN + τNN ) , (1)


ABSTRACT Diversity boosts innovation and creativity in urban contexts, but it can also undermine civicness by negatively impacting individuals' trust of other citizens, also hampering economic and institutional performance. By employing a spatial analysis approach using geocoded data from 5776 residents in three major urban Italian areas, we explore whether sharing geographical space in a context of socio-economic difference (in terms of income and education) affects individuals' choices to be civically engaged. The evidence reveals that the geographical proximity of an individual to others with different socio-economic characteristics decreases their civic engagement. A key challenge when designing urban policies is to reconcile the positive effects of diversity as it influences different economic–societal aspects, with the associated social tensions.


The invention provides a hoisting auxiliary structure for a wind powered generator, which comprises a holding part and two hanging parts, wherein the hanging parts are positioned at two sides of the holding parts respectively and are connected and fixed with the holding part through diagonal bars. The upper end of each hanging part is provided with a lifting lug for a hanging rope to be inserted into. One side, adjacent to the side connected and fixed with the hanging parts, of the holding part is provided with a hydraulic locking device for controlling the opening and closing of the holding part at the side. The other side, adjacent to the side connected and fixed with the hanging parts, of the holding part is provided with a rotation mechanism for rotating the side and a hydraulic shortening mechanism. In hoisting process of the whole wind powered generator, the hoisting auxiliary structure opens the hanging ropes to protect the hanging ropes from contacting and colliding with the wind powdered generator and can maintain the stability of upright posts of the wind powered generator and improve construction quality.


It is an important influence of the deviant behavior for the healthy development of the professional sports of China.Based on related research,this paper analyzes the deviant behavior problems of our professional sports from the perspective of the negative externality.Using comparative analysis of cost-benefit,we find out that the negative externality performance of the professional sports can be disintegrated as internal organization effects and inter-organizational effects,and it may close with the market loss and government offside of our professional sports.It has the feature that the transgressions cost of our professional sports negative externalities change with the number of deviant behavior,so the management may be difference with different levels of deviant behavior.For the special requirements of the negative externalities of our professional sports,it can be administered by use of the mechanisms of the institutional,the market and the organization.


The system developed under the Improved Landmine Detector Project is a teleoperated, multi-sensor, vehicle-mounted mine detector for low metal content and non-metallic mines to meet the Canadian requirements for rear area mine clearance in combat situations and peace-keeping on roads and tracks. The system consists of a purpose-built teleoperated vehicle carrying a forward looking infrared imager, a 3 m wide, down-looking highly sensitive electro-magnetic induction detector and a 3 m wide down-looking ground probing radar, which all scan the ground in front of the vehicle. Scanning sensor information is combined using a suite of navigation sensors and custom designed navigation, spatial correspondence and data fusion algorithms. Suspicious targets are then confirmed by a thermal neutron analysis detector. Key to the success of the system is the combination of sensor information, which requires coordinated communication between the sensors and navigation system and well designed sensor co-registration, spatial correspondence and data fusion methodologies. The advanced development model was completed in October 1997. Results are presented from Canadian and independent US trials in summer 1998. Four production units, based on the prototype technology, were delivered to the Canadian Forces in 2002, making the system the first militarily fielded, teleoperated, multi-sensor vehicle-mounted mine detector.


The development of nanoscale single-molecule localization and tracking technology for multiple bio-molecules in intact cells has important significance for studying the dynamic process in life process. Since most of cells are several microns in depth, but the focal depth of traditional optical microscopes are less than one micron, the limited depth of field is the main drawback of conventional single molecular localization microscopy that prevents observation and tracking of multiple molecules in intact cells. In this paper, based on the wavefront coding technique, a new type of holographic phase plate with high efficiency is proposed and designed to extend the depth of field of single molecular localization microscopy, which combines the distorted multi-value pure-phase grating (DMVPPG) with the double-helix point spread function (DH-PSF). The DMVPPG can be used to realize multiplane imaging of several tens of layers of a sample in a single detection plane. And the DH-PSF is an engineered point spread function which encodes the lateral and axial position with high precision of a molecule in the center of its two lobes and the angle between them respectively. Using the combined holographic phase plate, the molecules in dozens layers of a whole cell can be simultaneously imaged on the same detection plane with DH-PSF. Not only can the axial resolving power be improved, but the imaging depth can also be extended without scanning. Adding such a holographic phase plate to the imaging path, the limited imaging depth problem in single-molecule-localization microscopy can be solved without sacrificing the localization accuracy. The proposed new type of holographic phase plate can also be implemented with a spatial light modulator. In the following numerical simulation experiments, the designed holographic phase plate is composed of 600×600 pixels with a pixel size of 10 μm. The distance between two adjacent focal planes is designed to be 0.5 μm. Such a holographic phase plate is placed on the Fourier transform plane of the detection light path. When an emitter is located on the focal plane, it can be imaged as two lobes without rotation in a center area of the field of view. If an emitter is -6 μm away from the focal plane, the DH-PSF appears in the upper-left area of the field of view. Simulation results demonstrate that a total of 25 sample layers can be simultaneously imaged on the single detection plane and the 12 μm detection range can be achieved, thus proving the feasibility of this method.


The Australian species of Phaenognatha are revised and a key to species is given. P. jenae and P. arrowi spp. n. are described from the Northern Territory and northern Queensland, respectively. Six previously known species, P. erichsoni Hope, P. tristis Arrow, P. aequistriata Arrow, P. angusta Arrow, P. pusilla Arrow and P. scutellata Arrow, are redescribed with designations of lectotypes. The first known female specimen of the genus, of P. jenae, is described.


This article provides a brief overview of five water industry organizations that are reaching out to young adults and inviting them into the profession. The article begins by underlining the urgency of this action in order to combat the water industry's projected loss of almost half of its employees to retirement over the next five years. The organizations include the following: Georgia Association of Water Professionals; Connecticut Section of AWWA; California‐Nevada Section of AWWA; Alaska Native Engineering and Science Program; and, AWWA's Diversity and Membership Involvement Committee.


Rustiati. S110905004. 2008. The Use of Low and High Level of Javanese among
Young People in Madiun. Thesis. Surakarta: Postgraduate Program Sebelas Maret
University.
This research was conducted to describe the use of Javanese speech levels
ngoko and krama among Javanese young people in Madiun. Beside, the objective
of this research is to know the application of Javanese speech level: ngoko and
krama among young people in Madiun as well as to know the accurate diction
used in Javanese ngoko and krama amoung young peole in Madiun.
This research is descriptive in nature. The location of this research is Madiun
area, which includes Madiun Regency and Madiun Municipality. Madiun
Regency consists of eight subdistricts, while Madiun Municipality consists of
three subdistricts. On that account the location of the research covers eleven
subdistricts. The data of this research are Javanese ngoko and krama commonly
spoken by Javanese young people in Madiun. The data are in the form of spoken
ngoko and krama. The data were collected using recording technique. The data
analysis was done using contextual, sociolinguistic and speech components
approaches.
The result of the analysis shows that the use of Javanese speech levels ngoko
and krama among Javanese young people in Madiun is bad (categorized as
insufficient). This fact is supported by the following characteristics: 1) Wrong
choice of high level words forwarded to the speakers themselves. 2) The use of
non standard forms for ngoko as well as krama, moreover, the speakers choose the
speech levels ngoko and krama for the wrong contexts. It means that the language
they used is a mixed form (krama, ngoko, krama – Indonesian) and Indonesian as
well as Javanese ngoko. Moreover, diction accuracy or the using of certain
lexicons, such as those concering acts, human body organs, animals, jewelries,
fruits, colours of things (cultural object/goods), food materials, directions, times,
situations, and numbers is insufficient. This is show by the following facts: 1) All
the respondents do not use krama inggil lexicons such as mundhut (acts), diampil
(acts), salira (human body organs), nyamping (things), wangkingan (culture
objects/goods), yuswa (Situations), pakecohan (culture objects/goods), and krama
lexicons such, nedha (acts), dhateng (acts), for triple pairs of lexicons, namely
ngoko, krama, and krama inggil. 2) All the respondents do not use krama
lexicons, such as bethak (acts), segawon (animals), kambangan (animals), sawung
(animals), sesupe (Jewelries), sengkang (jewelries), jene (jewlries), jambet
(fruits), jeram (fruits), bintu (colurs), jene (colours), ijem (colours), paningset
(things), sande (things), wos ketos (food materials), brambang (food materials),
and ngalor (directions) for pairs of lexicons, such as ngoko-krama with pattern
adang-bethak. 3) All the respondents do not use krama inggil lexicons, such as
mucal (acts), dlamakan (human body organs), sangsangan (jewelries), binggel
xx
(jewlries), and busana (things) for pairs of lexicons, namely ngoko-krama inggil
with the pattern dlamakan-samparan
Based on the analysis in the use of low and high level of Javanese among
young people in Madiun, it can be concluded that: 1) In general, Javanese young
people in Madiun can not apply Javanese level words ngoko, krama, and krama
inggil, as a result they can not apply spoken level (unggah-ungguhing basa)
accurately. 2) In general, Javanese young people in Madiun can not speak
Javanese ngoko and krama well and accurately. This fact is supported by the
following characteristics: the wrong choice of high level words forwarded to the
speakers themselves and the use of on non standard forms for ngoko as well as
krama, moreover, the speakers choose the speech level ngoko and krama for the
wrong contexts.


The Bolsheviks had their work cut out for them in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Steppe was notorious for its poverty and lack of infrastructure. Many of its people were nomads. Their pastoralist economy r...


sensitivity was obtained, it is difficult to interpret owing to the wide variety of total doses and overall treatment times used and their method of administering oxygen. J. S. Mitchell24 treated a series of patients with histologically proved carcinoma of the bronchus that had been found inoperable at thoracotomy. Judging the results from those patients who survived more than twelve months after treatment, he found a statistically significant improvement with the use of oxygen at atmospheric pressure. Seven of thirteen patients treated with oxygen survived more than twelve months as compared with only four of thirty-two patients who were treated in air. The largest clinical trial was initiated by I. Churchill-Davidson and his colleagues in 1954, treating patients breathing oxygen at a pressure of 3-4 atmospheres absolute in a pressure chamber.25 28 From the first eight patients who were treated evidence obtained from microscopic examination of the irradiated tissues strongly suggested that the addition of oxygen enhanced the radiotherapeutic effect.27 Subsequently, 108 patients with tumours at many different sites had been treated by the beginning of 1961.28 The criteria for their selection were: (1) the whole malignant growth, both primary and any secondary deposits, could be included in a radiation field of reasonable size (20 by 20 cm.); and (2) there was considered to be little, if any, chance of cure by conventional radiotherapy. The total number of patients is still small and the time which has elapsed since the treatment of some is short, but in view of the material selected the results are encouraging. Of those who could be assessed 20 (21%) are alive with no evidence of growth for periods up to five years after treatment, and in 41 (42%) there has been apparently complete regression of the primary and secondary growth in the irradiated area. All patients were treated with a much smaller dose fractionation (2-6 fractions) than usual in conventional radiotherapy and over a much shorter period (1-2k weeks). As would be expected, the smaller and more vascular tumours have shown the greatest "oxygen effect." Particularly interesting features have been the enhanced response of secondary squamous cell carcinoma in lymph glands, which is notoriously resistant to conventional radiotherapy, and the almost complete absence of radiation sickness in spite of the large areas irradiated in some patients and the large doses given in each treatment fraction. The one serious complication has been an increased incidence of cartilage necrosis. Although in some cases the necrosis has obviously been due to invasion of the cartilage by growth, it is certain that cartilage, which is probably relatively poorly oxygenated, is more liable to damage by x rays if the patient is breathing high-pressure oxygen. This was predicted by P. Howard-Flanders and E. A. Wright,29 who advised making the tumour anoxic and giving three times the normal radiation dose.30 While it is possible to make a limb anoxic for the period required to give such a dose comparatively few tumours occur in the limbs, and the maximum period for which it is possible to make a whole patient anoxic with safety is under 30 seconds. Even with the most modern and expensive radiotherapy apparatus it is not possible to deliver a dose of the required size in so short a time to deep-seated tumours. It is hoped to avoid the complication by an adjustment of dose level and the use of high-energy irradiation, which is less absorbed in cartilage.


The loop-forming principles of yarn feeding apparatus in the carpet tufting machine is introduced, then the mathematic model of transversing bucking-out system is created and the formula of theoretical compensation rate is obtained, which measured up to physical circumstances according to the loop-forming principles and rug-overtufting technological requirements. Finally the methods of complete-period compensation and half-period compensation based on servocontrol is explained.


Constructing harmonious socialist society is the conclusion based on the experience of developing international societies.It is an important mark of the Party's ability to enhance its power and the necessity of keeping the society steady during the transitional period in our country.Moreover,it is the deepening and developing of cognition of the essence of socialism and the necessary requirement for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.


A method has been proposed by Carroll and Chang (1970) to analyze individual d:iJferences in multidimensional scaling via an N-way generalization of the 11 Eckart-Young11 decomposition. Its spatial model incorporates the possibility of assigning weights to the dim.ensions of the geometric configuration of the stimuli. These weights reflect individual differenc es. The purpose of this study was to empirically appraise the Indscal . methqd for use in social psychology in the area of person perception. The interest was spurred by the lack of correlates of individual differences in person perception. Whether this failure should be attributed to a real lack of correlates or to shortcomings of the measuring instruments is not clear. A refinement in the tools of measurement might help extricate these issues and pave the way in the quest for such correlates. First the•validity of the Indscal measurement as applied to a cognitive structure was established. A validity test was conducted using Norman's (1963) research as the criterion. Next the psychological significance of the measurements of individual differences was examined. These were correlated to some personality


The tragedy of meningococcal disease is frequently broadcast on the evening news, alerting the community to its devastation and engendering anxiety often without providing a context of the frequency of such events. Cohn and colleagues [1] provide critical data on the current epidemiology of meningococcal disease in the United States from the Active Bacterial Core surveillance program. They report that nearly two-thirds of cases are vaccine preventable with use of quadrivalent polysaccharide or polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines that are either already licensed or are in phase 3 clinical trials and suggest that the United States is at a critical time for meningococcal disease control. Reducing the burden of meningococcal disease is complex and challenging. Currently, the incidence of disease is at historic lows, one-half the lowest previously reported rate. Disease incidence has been decreasing for a decade, challenging the conventional wisdom that meningococcal disease occurs in 5-to-8–year cycles of peaks and troughs and raising the question


This paper investigates the relevance of patents as a competitive advantage with regard to the luxury industry. Within the framework of an explorative research design, more than two thousand patent...


Excellent course website is a window of course construction and evaluation,alos the online self-learning platform,a medium of communication between teachters and sturdents.This paper describes the light quality course based on the development of dynamic ASP.NET web site architecture,design,implementation and the use of the whole process of networking technology,database technology,multimedia technology and other related technologies.Course website using the network achieves the promotion of teaching,improve teaching quality.


The present study represents an attempt to evaluate a systematic underestimation in reported mental hospital readmission rates. The case search of the medical records of 1137 admissions to the Cleveland Psychiatric Institute in 1957 resulted in discovery of 221 readmissions erroneously classified as first admissions. Corrections for this error elevated the reported crude readmission rate from 31.40% to 50.84%. Since the reported rate is roughly equivalent to nationally rates, and since the corrected rate is well above national averages (including those for Prolonged Care Hospitals and those for more recent years where higher rates are to be expected), the data suggest that a systematic reporting error may be widespread.


270Background: There are approximately 12,000 new cases of cholangiocarcinoma in the US annually and, as for most GI cancers, the incidence is rising each year. Unfortunately treatment options are limited and surgery is only a possible curative option if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage (5 yr. survival, 20-30 %). Molecular profiling may play a crucial role in the discovery of new (early) biomarkers and treatment options for cholangiocarcinoma. Methods: Clinical records 104 cholangiocarcinoma patients (pts) at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center were reviewed. Only pts that had received surgical therapy were eligible for study. Variables collected included pt demographics, initial disease stage, tumor differentiation, and clinical (pre-existing) conditions. Tumor recurrence and pt survival from time of surgery was evaluated. Molecular profiling data was analyzed when present. Results: In our cohort we identified 41 pts with cholangiocarcinoma who underwent surgery at LCCC. Clinical data was ...


Cleavage describes the tendency of crystals to break along specific lattice planes. Acquiring information about cleavage is essential for the investigation of mechanical properties such as fracture energy, plasticity and strength. Although cleavage planes are commonly known for some simple materials (e.g. (110) and (111) for silicon), such information about arbitrary crystals is not available. There are no simple computational methods to predict cleavage planes in single crystals, apart from visual inspection of three-dimensional structures using programs like CrystalMaker or VESTA. Developing such methods may contribute to the understanding of physical and mechanical properties of crystals.


C9 petroleum resin hydrogenation technology and the related research progress of catalysts and the patent application case were analyzed,and the purpose of the hydrogenated C9 petroleum resin and its market situation was analyzed.It pointed out the hydrogenated C9 petroleum resin was an effective way of C9 resources use.


We investigate the static, spherically symmetric regular black hole solutions in the generalized Rastall gravity. In particular, the prescription of Rastall gravity implies that the present approach does not necessarily involve nonlinear electrodynamics. Subsequently, the resulting regular black hole solutions can be electrically and magnetically neutral. The general properties of the regular black hole solutions are explored. Moreover, specific solutions are derived and discussed, particularly regarding the parameter related to the degree of violation of the energy-momentum conservation in the Rastall theory.


450 Background: EV, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting Nectin-4, is used widely in treatment-refractory aUC, but limited data are available on biomarkers predictive of EV outcomes. We investigated potential biomarkers of response to EV in a pt cohort in the UNITE dataset. Methods: We included the retrospective UNITE study pts from 16 sites, with available next generation sequencing using institutional or commercial platforms, treated with EV alone outside clinical trials. Observed response (ORR) was determined by investigators for evaluable pts with scans after ≥1 dose of EV. Assessed molecular biomarkers included tumor mutation burden (TMB), PD-L1 status, somatic alterations (alts) in ≥ 10% of pts ( TERTp, TP53, ARID1A, CDKN2A, CDKN2B, FGFR3, ERBB2, CCND1, KDM6A, MTAP, PIK3CA, RB1, TSC1) and presence of ≥1 DNA damage response mutations ( ATM, BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, CDK12, CHEK2, PALB2, PPP2R2A, or RAD51B). ORRs were compared using Chi-squared test, while median progression-free and overall survival (mPFS, mOS) from EV start were compared with log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards in pts with and without biomarker presence. Results: A total of 170 pts had outcomes and NGS data available. Median age was 70, 133 (78%) were men, 144 (85%) Caucasian, 110 (65%) with pure urothelial histology, 118 (69%) with primary bladder tumor, and 116 (68%) had ≥ 2 lines of therapy before EV. For all pts, ORR 47%, mPFS 6 mos, mOS 12 mos. ORRs were higher in pts with ERBB2 (67% vs 44%; p = 0.05) and TSC1 (68% vs 25%; p=0.04) alts vs wild-type. Shorter mPFS was noted in pts with CDKN2A, CDKN2B, and MTAP alts, and longer mOS in pts with high TMB (table). Conclusions: This large, multi-site, retrospective cohort of pts with aUC identified several potential biomarkers associated with differential outcomes to EV. These findings, upon external validation, may help inform clinical decision making and potential therapy sequencing with available ADCs. Limitations include retrospective nature, pt selection, and confounding biases. [Table: see text]


Objective:To Analyze the relation between the sperm parameters and cleavage rate,the quality of embryos and the pregnancy rate,investigate the impact of sperm morphology on spermatozoal functions in in-vitrofertilization.Methods:We only included couples whose fertilization rate was 100%.A total of 82 cycles were included in our study.Before and after density gradient centrifugation,sperm morphology was evaluated by Diff-Quik stain according to the WHO criterion.The normal proportion of normal morphology sperm is ≥14%,and 14% is abnormal.Investigate and analyze the change of sperm parameters before and after density gradient centrifugation,female patient's age,endometrium thickness,and sperm parameters.Compare morphology,normal fertilization rate,cleavage rate,the quality of embryos and the pregnancy rate between two groups before and after sperm preparation.Results:①Afterdensitygradientcentrifugation,allof82samplessemendensityreducedandspermmotilityimprovedsignificantly.②Before sperm preparation,11 samples(13.41%)were normal and 71(86.59%) were abnormal;after preparation,34(41.46%)samples were normal and 48(58.53%)were abnormal.The normal proportion of normal morphology sperm of abnormal samples improved obviously(P 0.01),median(P25,P75) are 8.15%(6.38%,10.50%)vs.12.41%(9.98%,18.58%).③There are no significant difference in density and motility between normal and abnormal groups before spem preparation(P 0.05).④Follow up analysis showed that the normal group had no higher clinical pregnancy rate and higher quality embryos rate(P 0.05) but higher cleavage rate(P 0.05)than the abnormal one.⑤There were no significant differences for endometrium thickness and sperm parameters except the couples age between two groups of pregnancy or not.Conclusion:There is no significant prognosis of human normal morphology sperm rate on pregnancy outcomes of IVF-ET.Density gradient centrifugation can increase the normal morphology sperm percentage.The selection of the insemination methods should be made according to the results after density gradient centrifugation.


In two independent studies, we aimed to examine the extent to which teacher and peer nominations of loneliness are associated with children's and adolescents' self-reported loneliness, respectively. Additionally, we examined whether loneliness nominations from teachers and peers were informative above and beyond peer status and social behaviors associated with loneliness. In Study 1 (N = 1594, Mage = 9.43 years), teacher nominations of loneliness showed a small to moderate correlation with children's self-reported loneliness as assessed using the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire (LSDQ). The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that teacher nominations of loneliness predicted children's self-reported loneliness above and beyond teacher nominations of peer status and social behaviors. In Study 2 (N = 350, Mage = 13.81 years), peer nominations of loneliness showed a small to moderate correlation with adolescents' self-reported loneliness as assessed using the peer-related loneliness subscale of the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA). The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that peer nominations of loneliness predicted adolescents' self-reported loneliness above and beyond peer nominations of peer status and social behaviors. We conclude that loneliness nominations are valuable, but caution is needed when they are used exclusively to identify lonely children and adolescents.


A series of poly(amic ester)s, PMm, based on pyromellitic acid derivatives with long n-alkylene side chains [−(CH2)mH], were synthesized to prepare low-temperature lyotropic liquid crystalline (LC) precursors for a fully aromatic rigid-rod polyimide (PI). Highly oriented LC precursor films (m > 8) were prepared by shearing at ambient temperature. Although the polydispersity of PMm was not controlled, the PMm solution exhibited a lyotropic smectic phase in which the main chains were parallel to the layer normal. After prebaking the lyotropic solution (70 °C), uniaxial orientation order parameter of the main chain was maintained at ∼0.5 during heating from 70 to 250 °C before imidization. Synchrotron radiation wide-angle X-ray diffraction and polarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the orientation order spontaneously increased (0.5–0.9) during imidization (>270 °C), even for free-standing films. This unique phenomenon distinctly differs from the behavior of conventional amorphous pre...


The effects of different levels of NPK fertilizer on yield and quality of lotus root(Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) were studied.The results showed that application of NPK on yield and quality of lotus root had a significant impact,effects of nitrogen fertilization yield slightly increased potash,nitrogen and potassium much higher than the phosphate fertilizer,amount of different levels of NPK,the medium amount of fertilizer N450,P180 and K450 handle lotus yield were the highest;rational application of NPK not only increased the lotus root protein,vitamin C,reducing sugar content but also reduced the lotus root crude fiber and nitrate,improve the quality of lotus root,nitrogen for protein increased,vitamin C and sugar content reduced obviously,and potassium,lotus root nitrate content of crude fiber reduced obviously,and phosphate on the quality of lotus root had no significant difference,so the lotus root production should be noted the rational application of nitrogen fertilizer.


Abstract The current global financial crisis offers a number of valuable lessons and perspectives. Most importantly, the current crisis shows us that globalization requires more prudential supervision and regulation not less. In other words, the role of governments is critical in this world environment where currency and financial crisis are a recurring phenomenon. Ironically, the institutions we created and conventional economic wisdoms that we have promoted to foster global prosperity have actually ended up tying up our own hands in dealing with many of the pressing issues in the global economy. The global imbalance problem is one prime area where appropriate government intervention could provide a simple solution. The new emphasis on government interventions in managing national and global economy does not suggest going back to the era of protectionism and anti-globalization.


The evolution of the Internet has made several Communities of Practice to go online and has brought into life numerous Virtual Communities of Practice. The purpose of this article is: to define and categorize Virtual Communities of Practice; to examine their social impact in general and specifically in knowledge and technology management; also, to examine the contribution of Communities of Practice to informal learning and to relate them to Connectivism and collaborative learning. Several case studies are presented to clarify the presentation. It is expected that Virtual Communities of Practice will play an important role in both learning theory and practice as well as knowledge management during the years to come.


Objective To evaluate the associations between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer.Methods A computerized search on literature was carried out in Wanfang,CNKI,VIP databases and CBM,PubMed,EMBASE databases to collect articles published between 1979 and 2012 concerning the associations between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer.There are total 49 articles,in which six articles were written in Chinese and other articles were written in English.Odds ratio (OR) and standard incidence ratio (SIR) were used to assess the strength of the association,and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) to present the precision of the estimates.Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA (11.0) statistical software.Results We identified 16 case-control studies and one cohort studies by the uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria.Among the 16 case-control studies,six reported statistically significant positive association between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer,the others reported none statistically significant association between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer.Analysis of the 16 case-control studies that included 4695 testicular cancer patients and 6328 controls revealed an overall statistically significant association between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer (summary OR=1.33,95%CI 1.06 to 1.67).Of the one cohort study that included 30 199 inguinal hernia patients and reported SIR (1.1,0.4-2.2),there was not a statistically significant association between inguinal hernia and testicular cancer.Conclusions Our findings support a relationship between inguinal hernia and increased risk of testicular cancer.

Key words:
Hernia, inguinal;  Testicular neoplasms ;  Meta analysis ;  Risk factors


Healthy ageing interventions often arise from individualised assessments of physical and cognitive function. While these are important, social and environmental factors exert a significant influence on individual and communal wellbeing and can be overlooked in expert assessments. Social and environmental contexts are also central to agefriendly community design. This research examines the factors important to individuals in fostering healthy ageing within an age-friendly community.


Abstract : After seven years of existence, the time has come for the development of an operational MARSOC Reserve Component capable of carrying out SOF missions, enhancing the Command s effectiveness, and maintaining precious Marine Critical Skills Operator assets within the Command. The creation of a MARSOC Selected Marine Corps Reserve Marine Special Operations Company is entirely feasible, appropriate, and necessary in order to capitalize on operational and fiscal opportunities from USSOCOM, as well as to maintain the time and resources invested in Marine Critical Skills Operators as they transition from active to reserve military service.


In recent years, hardware accelerators have shown significant advantages in the field of deep neural networks. The architecture used in such systems has high memory utilization. To make the most of memory technology in conjunction with compute fabric, careful study of memory optimisation is thus necessary. NVSystolic, a heterogeneous simulation framework based on reconfigurable memory subsystems with a systolic array serving as the computing unit, is presented in this study. In particular, Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) can be modelled by the framework for the systolic array-based accelerator.


Objective: To explore the relationship between maternal periodontal diseases and preterm low birth weight infants( PLBWI) based on Meta analysis,and provide a reference basis for prevention and control of PLBWI.Methods: Prospective cohort studies and case-control studies about the relationship between maternal periodontal diseases and PLBWI published in China were collected,then the data were summarized and analyzed by heterogeneity test,Meta analysis was performed on RevMan 5.1 statistical software.Results: A total of 209 related literatures were selected,and 9 literatures(5 361 cases) were included ultimately,including 5 case-control studies( 4 525 cases)( combined OR = 2.84,95% CI: 2.07-3.89) and 4 prospective cohort studies(836 cases)( combined RR = 6.38,95% CI: 4.11-9.91).There was statistically significant difference in the birth rate of PLBWI between maternal periodontal diseases group and normal healthy pregnant women group after random effect model analysis( RR = 3.12,95% CI: 2.02-4.82,Z = 5.12,P 0.000 01).Conclusion: Maternal periodontal diseases might be correlated with the occurrence of PLBWI.


Translation can be described as the activity of translating the meaning of text from one language to another or SL (source language) to TL (target language).This study focuses on the investigation of translation strategy used for Taylor Swift's song "Anti-Hero" A descriptive qualitative approach is used in this study. The process of choosing, concentrating, streamlining, abstracting, and changing the information found in the study's field notes and transcripts is sometimes referred to as the data gathering procedure. In parallel with the data collection method, data analysis was done. Out of the 18 methods based on Molina and Albir (2002), researchers can conclude that eight types of strategies are obtained from 47 data found in the translation of the lyrics to Taylor Swift's song "Anti-Hero."The strategies found include; Amplification (15 data) 32%, Borrowing (5 data) 11%, Calque (1 data) 2%, Discursive creation (1 data) 2%, Establish equivalence (11 data) 23%, literal translation (10 data) 21% and reduction (4 data) 9%. It was found that the type of amplification translation strategy was the strategy that appeared the most with a percentage of 32% of all translation techniques found so that it became the most dominant type of translation used by translators in lyrics of the song 'Anti-Hero'. While the strategies of calque and discursive creation were the fewest translation strategies with a percentage of 2% in the translation of the lyrics of the song 'Anti-Hero' from all the strategies found.


Food security is an important strategic issue.In the background of the large disparity of farmer households' income between different areas and China facing serious financial exclusion problem,the article gives an empirical research on the different dimensions of financial exclusion's effects on the different income types of farmers' grain production based on the existing literature.Research finds access and condition exclusion and marketing exclusion significant effect on the poor areas' farmers' grain production,and physical access exclusion,access and condition exclusion and price exclusion significant effect on the developing areas' farmers' grain production,and price exclusion and marketing exclusion significant effect on the developed areas' farmers' grain production.


Comparisons are made between three climatic data sets consisting of Northern Hemispheric annual surface air temperature departures over the past 100 years. It is shown that despite the large values of linear cross-correlation between the data records, the long-term trends are significantly different according to the bootstrapping procedure. The confidence of relying on any particular data set for assessing global climate change statistics is thus questioned.


1 1 Abstract—High-Redundancy Actuator (HRA) refers to an actuator that consists of relatively large number of actuation elements, connected in series and in parallel to form a single actuator. The HRA can provide a high degree of fault tolerance by improving availability and reliability, whilst reducing the need for over-sizing an actuator especially in safety-critical applications. The HRA is applicable to a wide range of actuation elements but this paper focuses on a linear electro-mechanical actuator (EMA) due to its extensive application not only in industrial machinery but in aircraft and the aerospace industry in general. This paper presents the current work and future work planned in order to demonstrate the concept of high-redundancy actuator through a 3 by 4 series in parallel linear EMA for fault-tolerant system.


The formalized parameters of bird hazard assessment at the aerodrome are presented. The size of total biomass of all birds that are in a zone of aircraft movement reflects the aggregate characteristic of ornithological hazard. This is a dynamic parameter, its dimensionality is kg/hour‧km2. The size of biomass is differentiated on high-altitude layers and the directions of its movement. In addition, it is necessary to estimate activity of each bird species at the aerodrome as component parts of bird hazard. Its dimensionality is individuals/hour‧km2. One more parameter of aerodrome bird hazard in the assessment process of activity of each bird species is the behavior pattern of birds in aerodrome airspace. This parameter will allow to reveal the sources of bird arrivals at the airfield and to detect the causes of it. Assessment of this share is necessary to choose the effective measures to decrease bird strike risk. The birds recording technique at airfield has been designed to obtain quantitative values of main parameters of bird hazard. The birds recording is carried out from the observation points located on the opposite sides of the runway. The birds recording technique is based on visual detection of birds, identification of species, sex and age determination, expert estimate of altitude and direction of their movement. Except the flying birds, the foraging and resting birds on the ground are also considered. The contribution of these birds to the aggregate value of ornithological hazard is bigger than overflying birds. The birds recording technique is described in detail. The norms and frequency of birds recording to obtain data on daily and seasonal dynamics of aerodrome bird hazard are substantiated. The algorithm of processing the results of birds recording and calculation of the main parameters value of bird hazard is stated. Gradations of bird hazard and relevant measures to decrease quantity of birds at airfield are proposed.


It is hard to use the current mutiaxial fatigue theory for real welded structures in engineering.An approach for multiaxial fatigue life assessment of complex welded structures is proposed,by combining the equivalent hot spot stress method and the bi-parametrical critical plane theory.The damage parameters and controls equations of the critical plane theory and the definition of the equivalent hot spot stress method are described,respectively.A procedure of the multiaxial fatigue life assessment for welded structures is presented,and the feasibility of the proposed approach is verified by the use of finite element analysis.


A complete laser cooling setup was built, with focus on threedimensional near-resonant optical lattices for cesium. These consist of regularly ordered micropotentials, created by the interference o ...


DR. MERRIL EISENBUD: I asked earlier this morning how much was being spent on automobile emission controls and nobody seemed to know, but I do not think that anybody will argue with the assumption that it is several billion dollars a year. As I said earlier, the figures that I have used range from 11 to 20 billion dollars per year. The point is that this is by far the largest investment that this country or any country has ever made in the name of public health. The whole health budget of the New York City Health Department is about $100 million a year, and here we spend somewhere between 11 and 20 billion dollars a year eliminating an air pollutant on which Dr. Coburn says no research is being done. I would quite agree with that; I think the level of research is minuscule but I think that this is a blindness that we have throughout the environmental field. We seem to be quite willing to spend billions of dollars to control pollutants on the basis of a rather flimsy research base, but an investigation to establish whether an adequate basis exists cannot get hundreds of thousands or a few million. I hope that as this conference goes on, some of the gaps in our knowledge will be identified. MRS. VANDY BRADOW (Environmental Protection Agency): You stated that the investment to control automotive pollutants is the largest single investment for public health. I do not have the numbers at my fingertips, but I do believe that the investment for control of sulfur oxides from stationary sources is probably quite a lot larger. DR. EISENBUD: I believe the figure for sulfur oxides is $4 billion a year. This one seems to be pretty well established.


In this communication we report the measurement of out‐of plane displacement of the reflecting specimen surface (mirror). The light reflected from specimen is tested in a double grating Coherent Gradient Sensing (CGS) interferometer. The real time displacement of a mirror is measured as a function of variation in the inclination angle of the fringes. The experimental arrangement is simple and primarily uses a set of two gratings. CGS is a common path interferometer hence it is well adaptable to applicability in industrial environments.


objective: to study the therapeutic effects of ultrasound-guided needle knife intervention, nerve block and drug therapy on chronic cervical pain based on anatomical basis. Methods: 120 patients (aged 60 and above) were randomly divided into needle knife intervention group (n = 40), nerve block group (n = 40) and drug control group (n = 40). Results: the odi score did not improve in 5 patients one year after operation, with a total effective rate of 87.5%. The vas score did not change in 7 patients 10 min after operation, with a total effective rate of 77.50%. No complications occurred. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: the therapeutic effect of acupotomy guided by ultrasound on chronic neck pain is better, especially in the long term.


Abstract : The Weapons Analysis Branch, Ballistics and Weapons Concepts Division, Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) built a multi-body engineering-level model of the unmanned ground vehicle platform used in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Demo III Robotics program during fiscal years 2000 and 2001. The intended role of the autonomous robotic vehicle was to be a technology demonstrator to assess the possibility of an unmanned vehicle performing the armor scout mission. The unaided vehicle would travel ahead of the troop section and provide scout reconnaissance without the need for placing a human being into a hostile environment. The vehicle platform used as the basis for the model was the experimental unmanned vehicle (XUV) developed and built by General Dynamics Robotic Systems (GDRS). The XUV is a four-wheeled, Ackerman-steered, all-wheel-drive autonomous vehicle that is approximately 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet high and has a curb weight of=3000 pounds. The XUV uses a four-cylinder, 78-hp diesel engine that powers a four-wheel hydraulic drive system. A computer model of the XUV was subsequently developed as a further extension of the modeling tools used for analyzing robotic vehicle off-highway mobility and chassis dynamics and to further enhance the fidelity of battlefield simulations in which these vehicles are employed. The XUV is shown in Figure 1 and the XUV with revised body structure is shown in Figure 2.


The present paper investigates the impact of bolt distance, bolt diameter, and the number of bolt rows on the bending performance of timber–steel composite (TSC) beams. This study aims to facilitate the application of bolt connections in assembled TSC structures. Composite steel I-beams were designed with timber boards connected in the upper section with bolts. Three-point static bending tests were conducted on nine timber–steel composite beams divided into four groups (L1, L2, L3, and L4) with varying bolt arrangements. The destruction mode, ultimate bearing capacity, ductility coefficient, load–midspan deflection curve, and load–midspan strain curve of each specimen were obtained. In addition, the destruction mechanism, the quantitative relationship between the bolt area ratio and interfacial slip, and the ideal bolt area ratio were identified. It was found that when the midspan deflection of the timber–steel composite beam approached the prescribed limit, the main failure mode can be explained as follows: The top surface of the boards of all the specimens had longitudinal local splitting, except L1, which had fewer bolts and no obvious damage. Moreover, due to compression and because the stress at the lower edge of the I-beam entered the flow amplitude stage, some of the specimens were crushed but were not pulled off. The composite beams had high flexural load capacity and ductility coefficient, and the maximum relative slips of the timber–steel interfaces were in the range of 2–6 mm. It was also found that the maximum slip of the interface and the ductility coefficient decreased steadily as the bolt area ratio increased, while the specimen's flexural bearing capacity increased. The optimal bolt area ratio was determined to be 8 × 10−3. Using the total bolt area, we designed the arrangement of the bolts on the board. For convenience, multiple bolt variables were converted into one bolt variable. The longitudinal distance of the bolts had a greater impact on the slip, and the bolt diameter had a smaller impact. The theoretical values of total relative slip were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results, which were based on the superposition of the relative slip equations with varying bolt distances. The effective bolt area ratio and the formula of the relative slip of each segment can provide instructions for the arrangement of bolts and the control of the relative slip of intersections in engineering practices.


Since the first outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many infected people have developed a severe infection, which is usually a sequel of cytokine overproduction. The chemokine receptor, such as chemokine receptor 5, also denoted as (CCR5) has a role in the pathogenicity of COVID-19 disease. The ongoing research paper tried to assess the impact role of CCR5Δ32 mutation in a group of Iraq SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. A total of 180 samples were enrolled in this study; 120 were patients infected with COVID-19 and verified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in nasopharyngeal swabs. Those patients were categorized into two groups based on the severity of the disease: severe COVID-19, which included 60 patients and mild/moderate COVID-19 with 60 patients.
Furthermore, 60 subjects confirmed to be COVID-19-negative were enrolled in this study as a control group. The nucleic DNA was obtained from whole blood, and the CCR5Δ32 mutation was genotyped and detected by polymerase chain reaction using specific primer sequences. Results of the current study mentioned that out of the 180 samples in this study, 100 (100%) were wild type for the CCR5 gene (CCR5-wt), while none (0%) were mutant type for the CCR5-Δ32. This research has demonstrated that none of the study patients have the mutant CCR5 gene type (CCR5-32), assuming a lack of the role of CCR5Δ32 in the prognosis of COVID-19 infection.
Keywords: Chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), CCR5Δ32 mutation, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.


Environmental conditions (temperature, rainfall, relative air humidity and photoperiod) strongly affect the reproduction of bats. Although the effects of environmental factors on the reproduction of different species of bats have been described, there are no studies regarding the seasonal influence on the reproduction of bats in the Cerrado biome. The Cerrado is the most diverse tropical savanna in the world, and presents a seasonal climate with welldefined rainy and dry seasons. The aim of this study was to analyze the reproductive aspects of male bats of three locally common species of the Phyllostomidae family: Artibeus lituratus, Platyrrhinus lineatus and Sturnira lilium, during the dry and rainy seasons. Five males of each species were collected during the dry season. During the rainy season five males of A. lituratus and S. lilium, and four males of P. lineatus were collected. The testicles were fixed in Bouin's solution for five hours. The samples were dehydrated in ethanol, clarified in xylene and embedded in Paraplast Plus®. Three µm-thick sections were obtained at intervals of 45 µm, fixed onto slides and stained with hematoxylin-eosin, and taken to evaluation in a light microscope. Tubular area, lumen area, tubular diameter, and lumen diameter and epithelium height were measured on testicular cross sections using the computer software Image Pro-Plus®. Body weight was significantly higher during the dry season for the three species. Gonadosomatic index (GSI) was significantly different between seasons for all three species, being higher during the rainy season for A. lituratus and P. lineatus, and during the dry season for S. lilium. Testicular weight and length were higher during the rainy season for A. lituratus and P. lineatus, and during the dry season for S. lilium. The tubular parameters were significantly bigger in A. lituratus than in the other two species during both seasons. No difference on the tubular/interstitial ratio was observed in any of the studied species during both seasons. In both rainy and dry seasons all sperm cells and germ-cell lineages were visible on seminiferous tubules whereas sperm cells were observed on epididymides of all sampled animals. The percentage of morphologically normal sperm was low (between 35-60%), with no differences between seasons. Spermatozoa from A. lituratus presented an arrow-shaped head, while the head was round-shaped in the other two species. In conclusion, despite the fact that some significant differences between seasons could be observed, our data suggest that males from the three studied species may be able to reproduce along the year and do not present reproductive seasonality in the Cerrado biome. (CEUA/UnB/Protocol#116319/2011).


As empirical evidence in strategy has accumulated, scholars have shown increasing interest in assessing the empirical record of leading theories. Two methods of assessment have figured prominently: vote counting and meta-analysis. Recently, critics have denounced the former in favor of the latter. While meta-analysis is certainly a powerful assessment tool, we argue that both vote counting and meta-analysis are characterized by certain strengths and weaknesses and that these methods should be seen as complementary means of understanding bodies of empirical evidence. We provide guidance regarding when to employ each method and how to improve the process of cumulative assessment.


Abstract What does it mean to spatialize food? Why combine such an analysis with law, or with signs and spaces? Leveraging Peircean-inspired legal semiotic theory, the spatialized nature of food will serve as a porthole through which a semiotic view of the spatial dimensions of legal experience can be discerned and elaborated. Specifically, case studies of the simultaneously material and immaterial aspects of food will support an analysis that seeks to open avenues of conceptualization regarding categories. The semiotic nature of both food and law will drive a discussion of the "dis-composition" of categories. Though such an effort may appear overly scholarly and far from pragmatic, exactly the opposite claim will be made. Case studies such as that of the "Meatball Wars" will illustrate in plain terms how subject position struggles for space cannot be adequately addressed within traditional disciplinary boundaries. The essay will conclude with a demonstration of how a "discomposing" semiotic approach has the potential to serve as a means of enabling conflict resolution on a broader scale. The overall investigation is motivated by the struggle within academia – seen across the humanities – to rethink traditional foundational assumptions and dichotomies. The argument seeks to ground itself in the interconnectedness increasingly advanced, joining scholars who insist on the importance of anthro-historical context, local particulars, and the impossibility of assuming an objective position that can coolly observe phenomena from "outside."


The blood coagulation time of rabbits was determined by the coagulometer of Cannon-Mendenhall-Hirayama and burns were made on the abdominal wall by means of either moxibustion or a hot rod or on the ears by means of either burning with moxa or dipping into water at 100°. Burning or applying a great heat indueed a eertain fluetuation in the blood coagulation time, but changes were not so uniform. Shortening or lengthning were recorded. Desensitization of the ears was enough to cause the fluctuation in the blood coagulation time due to burns to subside, otherwise expressed, the latter fact is to be accounted for by the pain cvoked by burns.


This article considers the protection afforded to unsecured creditors in the context of equitable proprietary remedies. First, it argues that recent attempts to cater for hypothetical unsecured creditors when formulating a general rule are unprincipled and result in the interests of other innocent third parties being overlooked. Secondly, it is argued that the best way to accommodate thirdparty concerns in the context of fiduciary wrongdoing is through the exercise of remedial discretion. Such a framework would match the approach taken to discretionary considerations in the context of other equitable remedies such as injunctions and specific performance.


A scheme for quantum information transfer is proposed based on the large-detuned interaction between atom and cavity field.In this scheme the quantum information can be transferred into each other between an atom and a cavity field,many entangled atoms and a cavity field,many atoms and many cavity fields respectively.


This paper reports on the development of a repulsive type magnetic bearing system and the importance of permanent magnet (PM) configuration on the attenuation of radial disturbance. A new configuration of the permanent magnet of the bearing system resulting in improved stiffness characteristics in the radial direction has been described. Prototype models have been designed and developed in our laboratory and experiments carried out.


Tentative Synthesis of 'Bis(triasterane)' and Synthesis of the Heterocyclic (Tricyclo[4.4.1.01,6]undeca-3,8-diene-11,11-dimethyl)sulfite

The synthesis of the bis(triasterane) (1) has been tried; the reaction of 'isotetraline' (1,4,5,8-Tetrahydronaphthalene; 2) with diazomalonate yielded the tricyclic systems 5 and 6, and not 4. Hydrolysis of 5 gave the monocarboxylic acid 7, and not the dicarboxylic acid 9. The latter could be obtained from the dibromoderivative 8, but 9 couldn't be converted to the acyl chloride 10. The reduction of 9 with LiAlH4 yielded the crystalline diol 11, which was cyclized with SOCl2 to the heterocycle 12. The spectral data of the new compounds 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12 are reported and discussed.


The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for carrying out the method for producing at least one recess (10) as a microstructure, in particular a deep trench in a semiconductor material (2), particularly in the production of DRAMs. In this case, according to the invention is locally heated area of the at least one recess (10) in the semiconductor material (2) during an etching step at least at times and / or. This makes it possible wells in semiconductor materials insbesonderee with a high aspect ratio to produce efficiently.


Nano- sized and well- dispersed Cu- Ni/La2O3 can be obtained by reduction of LaCu0.2Ni0.8O3 with the structure of perovskite. Using Cu- Ni/La2O3 as cata lyst and C2H2 as carbon source, carbon nanotubes with a high yield and narrow di ameter distribution can be obtained in the reaction temperature range of 650~ 7 00℃ . Outer diameter of carbon nanotubes rangs from 9nm to 14nm. TG, Raman and XPS analysis indicate that carbon nanotubes prepared by Cu- Ni/La2O3 are relati vely higher in graphitic degree.


STARAN® has a number of array modules, each with a multidimensional access (MDA) memory. The implementation of this memory with random-access memory (RAM) chips is described. Because data can be accessed in either the word direction or the bit-slice direction, associative processing is possible without the need for costly, custom-made logic-in-memory chips.


With applied environment of sensor networks becoming complicated and changeable,the over-air reprogramming is necessary for flexibly configuring and updating sensor nodes.However,too high overhead still restraints the large-scale application of the over-air reprogramming.The over-air reprogramming overhead includes the programming and the transmission overhead.In practice,we find the programming overhead may exceed the transmission overhead and thus provide EasiCache,a novel low-overhead reprogramming approach based on cache mechanism.Using the mechanism,the frequently changed codes are dynamically stored and executed in the low-power RAM instead of the high-power flash,which helping to lower the programming overhead.Additional,the approach uses the different code comparison between functions to reserve the program structure information and reduce the transferred code size.The experiment results demonstrate the EasiCache's effectiveness of lowering the over-air reprogramming overhead.


This paper discusses the role of prices as signals in a static two-sided asymmetric information monopolistic model. We demonstrate the existence of equilibria involving fraud even if consumers' private information about quality is made arbitrarily precise. Our main result is that higher levels of fraud attempted by low-quality sellers may be beneficial to prospective buyers via a decrease in the market partial-pooling price. Furthermore, more precise private information may harm consumers. These findings suggest that standard consumer policies based on the provision of accurate information and the promotion of honesty in the market place may reduce consumers' welfare.


The proper motions of a source obtained at different epochs or in different spectral regions should in principle be consistent. However, in the case of a binary source or a source with associated ejecta, they could be different depending on the epochs when the observations were made and on what emission is traced in each spectral region. In this paper we determine the radio proper motions of the ultra-cool dwarf binary VHS 1256$-$1257AB from Very Large Array (VLA) observations, that we find are consistent within error ($\simeq 2-3\%$) with those reported by Gaia DR3. The comparison of the proper motions and the analysis of the VLA data imply that, as in the optical, the radio emission is coming in comparable amounts from both components of the unresolved binary.


Bad weather (eg., fog and haze) significantly degrades the quality of outdoor images taken by camera, leading to the fact that most automatic systems, which strongly depends on the definition of the input images, fail to work normally. Thus, the improvement of the dehazing technology is highly desired. To overcome the disadvantages of traditional dark channel priorbased algorithm, we propose a more efficient dehazing algorithm combining dark channel prior and mean shift segmentation. Firstly, we take the operation of white balance on the input haze image to reduce the negative influence of color cast. Secondly, we use the mean shift segmentation algorithm to separate the sky regions from the foreground in the transmission map, which is obtained with the dark channel prior-based approach. Thirdly, we enhance the brightness of the sky regions in the transmission map independently and use guided image filtering to smooth the map. Finally, we restore the image with the re-refined transmission map. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is better able to handle the sky regions and solve the problem of color cast compared with the typical dehazing algorithms.


Hydrogen-free silicon oxynitride was deposited at 300°C through the reaction of Si from a solid source and neutral oxygen and nitrogen species activated in remote ECR plasma. The IR absorption measurement clearly showed that the composition of oxygen and nitrogen in the film was controlled by simply varying the flow ratio of the source gases of O2 and N2. Oxynitride films without internal stress could be realized by adjusting the film composition of oxygen and nitrogen. The deposited film had high resistivity and breakdown field, and the interface state density between the film and Si was in the lower range of 1010 cm-2eV-1, which were sufficient for device application.


Intervention means the interposition on some relations or mechanisms by outside force. In the law, not only economic law embodies the intervention of public right, but also civil law does. There are many differences between two interventions. The article mostly probes into the qualitative difference of two kinds of public right intervention, on this base, it also discusses some disputed problems existing in the system of the economic law.


Mostly makes some researches on the simulation of wireless network ZigBee Star-topology of the measurement of material position in NS2.In ZigBee Star-topolgy,data transmission of simulator enviroment is analyzed.Also,ZigBee technology and NS2 will be separately presented here.Finally,the simulation tracing file is analyzed by using the analysis tool.Accordingly,it is ready for analyzing several star-network parameters in 2.4GHz frequency band of ZigBee.It is indicated that the whole network throughput and data deliver is well,ZigBee wireless network Star-topology could be applied to the measurement of material position.


The FEMA P695 Methodology, developed through the recent ATC-63 Project, incorporates ground motion guidelines that include a so-called Spectral Shape Factor (SSF). This SSF adjusts the predicted collapse capacity of the building to account for the spectral shape of ground motions. This paper explains how aspects of this new FEMA P695 Methodology could be adapted for use in refining the target displacement equation (i.e. inelastic displacement demand) in the ASCE/SEI 41 Nonlinear Static Method to account for spectral shape. The final result would be an additional coefficient (termed the "spectral shape coefficient") that would reduce the target displacement for sites where the ground motion is expected to have a less damaging spectral shape. This paper outlines how one would compute this spectral shape coefficient for any site and building of interest, and then explains the additional work needed to implement this new coefficient into ASCE/SEI 41. An example is provided to illustrate the effect that the new coefficient has on the computed target displacement. For a 2% in 50 year motion at a San Francisco California site, application of the spectral shape coefficient results in a 40% reduction in the target displacement.


The collapse of long-term lending relationships amplified the Great Depression and perturbed recovery. We demonstrate this by developing a new measure of lending relationships that can be calculated from widely available data at any level of aggregation. Our approach exploits differences in the responsiveness of loan rates to bank funding costs and is supported by historical evidence and theoretical arguments. The new measure reveals that bank suspensions' marginal impact on economic activity in the early 1930s was higher in more relationship-intensive areas. Furthermore, the rebuilding of destroyed relationships helps explain regional variation in economic performance during the 1937-38 recession. Jon Cohen Department of Economics University of Toronto Max Gluskin House 150 St. George Street, 322 Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G7 Canada email@example.com Kinda Cheryl Hachem University of Chicago Booth School of Business 5807 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 and NBER email@example.com Gary Richardson Department of Economics University of California, Irvine 3155 Social Sciences Plaza Irvine, CA 92697-5100 and NBER firstname.lastname@example.com


Studies on the incidence the caraway seeds for pathogen infestation and test the pathogenicity of isolated fungi to caraway seedlings were carried out. A total of 383 fungi were isolated from seeds with evident symptoms of disease and without symptoms of disease. In this case a complex of different pathogens was isolated, among which Alternaria, Fusarium and Epicoccum were predominant. Pathogenicity assay on caraway seedlings was performed using isolates originating from caraway seeds. All tested fungi showed a very high aggressiveness in pathogenicity test.


This paper examines the fundamental features of attentional markets in which online platforms attract users' time and sell access to that time to advertisers. Using Facebook as an extended case-study, it shows how the "free at the point of use" business model adopted by social media platforms raises significant challenges for established standards of competition law regarding market definition, evaluation of market power and assessment of mergers. It then advances two proposals for how existing EU rules could be reformed in order to facilitate greater competition in the market for social networking. Finally, the paper responds to potential counterarguments.
Competition policy, attention economy, network effects, switching costs, data privacy, merger control, interoperability